


As We Stare at the Void in Us

by Mornelithe_falconsbane



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 18:32:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17792543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mornelithe_falconsbane/pseuds/Mornelithe_falconsbane
Summary: For the want of a nail, a kingdom was lost.





	As We Stare at the Void in Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [graveExcitement](https://archiveofourown.org/users/graveExcitement/gifts).



Shinguji’s body isn’t even cold when Kaito drags him out to the patio in the courtyard, shoving Shuichi toward the grass before he disappeared into the dorms to get Maki. 

The stars are bright, same as they are every night, and Shuichi stares at them while he waits. He hasn’t seen a cloud since they got here. It bothers him, the same way the lack of insects and the changed stars did. There was a mystery he can’t even find the beginning of in those truths, and Shuichi isn’t even sure he wants to know it.

It’s quieter here than anywhere Shuichi has ever been. There’s no wind, no bugs, no birds, no people, no distant cars or planes. It’s a silence far beyond anything he’s ever known, and it frightens him almost as much as everything else about this terrible place. Shuichi hears his heart beating in that void, lonely and nervous. 

How had he missed Shinguji? And if he’d missed warning signs as obvious and blatant as those ones...then what else has he missed?  _ Who _ else has he missed?

The door to the dormitory hisses open, and Kaito and Maki’s arrival drowns out the sound of his heart, the two of them quietly finding him in the dark, and sitting on the grass to either side of him.

None of them speak. What could they say?  _ Three of our friends died today, but let’s all do our best tomorrow!  _ It’s beyond his comprehension, this cycle of grief and fear. If it weren’t for Kaede and Kaito--

“You did good today, Shuichi. As expected of my sidekick, of course,” Kaito interrupts Shuichi’s thoughts, his voice a lot softer than usual. “That was a...trial and a half.” His smile falters for a second as he looks toward the dorms, a hint of his pallor from before the trial returning. “But thanks to you, we survived!”

It’s stupid to be so pleased by Kaito’s thumb’s up and smile, but Shuichi can’t help himself. “Ah--thanks, Kaito.”

Maki nods, adding her approval to Kaito’s, and Shuichi has to fight down a blush.  _ It’s not like they couldn’t have done it without him, _ he reminds himself. He’s not that special.

“Did...” Maki falters almost before she begins speaking, but gathers herself when Kaito directs his smile at her. “...did either of you...ever talk to him?”

There’s no doubt who she’s talking about. Shuichi figures that everyone’s asking themselves how they missed Shinguji’s...everything. “I hung out with him a few times,” Shuichi replies. “He was weird but I had no idea...”

“Yeah, I was thinking about that too,” Kaito continues for him, picking up when Shuichi trailed off. “It’s like, he was a weirdo, and then he was a  _ homicidal _ weirdo? It doesn’t make much sense, does it? He killed nearly a hundred girls and he didn’t get caught?”

“It’s not that strange,” Maki says, her shoulder twitching in a half-shrug. “People get away with murder all the time.”

Kaito’s eyes are locked on the stars when Shuichi glances at him, trying to gauge his reaction--he isn’t even looking at him when he says, “Not with Shuichi on the case.”

Shuichi blushes, and it’s ridiculous. It’s just a joke, Kaito has to know how failable Shuichi is by now--especially now. “I had no idea he was going to murder anyone,” Shuichi admits--reminds Kaito. “I didn’t even know it was him until halfway through the trial, and if Kokichi hadn’t done his own investigating--”

Kaito hums thoughtfully, and Shuichi stops mid-sentence, letting silence fill the air. He pulls blades of grass from the ground while he waits for Kaito to reach the end of whatever he’s thinking, piling them on his knee in a messy heap.

After a moment, he lets himself look at Kaito again to gauge his mood. This time Kaito sees him looking, and Shuichi can’t explain the sharp blade of fear that slices through him at the thought of being caught.

That fear disappears when Kaito smiles, but still Shuichi can’t maintain eye contact for longer than a few seconds. It’s too much, though too much of what, he can’t say. 

“About Kokichi...” Kaito says, apparently unbothered by Shuichi’s awkwardness. “I’ve been thinking.”

Maki’s silence takes on a different, less friendly quality, and the hair on Shuichi’s arms rose in a prickling wave. “Maki?” Shuichi interrupts, because she won’t say anything if Kaito keeps going.

“He’s a liar.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kaito reaches out to her, taps her arm with the back of his knuckles. He doesn’t seem to see how it makes Maki blush. “But I was thinking. Shinguji, we just didn’t know him, you know? He was all weird and kinda freaky, and then he upped and murdered Angie and Tenko. If we’d been closer to him, maybe we could have stopped him.”

He doesn’t like where this is going. “You think we could have...befriended Shinguji into not murdering people?”

Kaito stares at the stars for a while, his brow furrowed in deep thought. “Shinguji was pretty bugfuck crazy. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else is going to be like that, right? And I think...I think Kokichi is pretty fucking smart. If we can get him on our team, that’s a good thing for us...and for him.”

“Is that why you dragged me into this? Because you thought I’d become a murderer if you didn’t?”

“Hell no! I wanted you to be our friend because you looked sad and lonely.”

Maki’s silence is dangerous, but she doesn’t leave--she doesn’t even look away from Kaito.

He squints at her for a moment, and then sighs. “Okay, maybe a little. I knew--shit, the way everyone else was treating you, it was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? Someone was going to try and kill you, then you’d kill them, and you’d be dead because everyone was scared of you, even though you didn’t do anything! So yeah, maybe I wanted to prevent that, too.”

Shuichi doesn’t need to be a detective to see the parallels Kaito’s drawing. “You think someone’s going to try and kill Kokichi? ...or do you think that he’s going to kill someone?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Maki says, tugging on her hair as she thinks about it. “Keebo or Himiko are more likely to be attacked.”

“How do you figure, Maki Roll?” Kaito asks, “I’ve got my thoughts on it, but what are yours, sidekick of mine?”

Maki’s hand clenches around her hair, knuckles going almost white. “It’ll depend,” she says swiftly, then hesitates for a long while. “It’ll depend who snaps next and decides to kill. But if they’re not crazy...then they’ll go for whoever they think is easiest. And those two are the weakest of us. They would be easy to fool, and easy to overpower. No one would pick Kokichi as their victim with them available. He’d be very difficult to fool, and he’d do everything he could to take his murderer down with him.”

“What do you think, Shuichi-bro?”

“I...disagree with Maki.” When it’s like this--theoretical, hypothetical, not-real--the puzzle is almost fun. Who will do what to who and why? He’d loved murder mysteries when he was a kid. “Because if that were true, there would have been no risk of anyone attacking Maki, even if you had not made an effort to befriend her. She is dangerous, as is Kokichi. If a murderer is looking for an easy victim...” Ryoma’s corpse flashes behind his eyes, and Shuichi flinches. “They might. They might try for whoever is easiest. But it’s more like...they’ll aim for someone they can justify killing.”

“Justify?” Maki’s mouth twists, a flash of irritation that was there, then gone. “How could they justify killing? Do you mean they would attack him out of fear, as they might have attacked me?”

“It’s easy.” Kaito stretches, yawning. “You don’t want to kill somebody, but you really want to get out, so you pick the one you think deserves to die as your target. Then you don’t feel guilty about your plans, you know? So someone sees Kokichi and says to themselves,  _ ‘If I don’t kill him, he’ll kill someone else. I’d be doing everybody a favour.’  _ Or--you know, they might try for Keebo, ‘cause he’s a robot and not a person, too. So they could tell themselves it wouldn’t really be murder.”

“How could they be doing us a favour? If they succeed, they will have murdered all of us.”

Shuichi can’t come up with an answer to that. She’s right, even as Kaito’s right. “It’s...people don’t murder because it makes  _ sense _ ,” he tries to explain.

Maki tilts her head, combing through her hair with quick, restless fingers. “Do you agree with Shuichi, Kaito?”

“Yeah. You’ve got a good point, though, Maki. We aren’t going to know exactly who’s going to be next because we aren’t going to know what who’s going to do it, or why. Just...I got a hunch. About why Kokichi’s pulling all this shit.”

“Other than him being a total dick?” Shuichi blurts out without thinking.

Kaito laughs, his face lighting up. “Nah. I think he’s painting the target on himself. He’s not dumb enough to think that no one’s going to react to how he’s trying to rile us, so he must be angling for that, right?”

“Look, if you try and feed me some line on how Kokichi’s really just misunderstood, and we can save him from being dead by being his friend--this isn’t a manga, Kaito. That’s bull.”

“Well, he’s doing it for some reason, and I’m not ruling out that reason being murder. So we’re not going to let him slide through our fingers, right?!” Kaito punches his fist into the air, laughing when Maki and Shuichi raised their fists in reluctant mimicry. “That’s going to be  _ so cool _ when we get it down, guys!”

***

Kokichi is too smart for his own good. It’s really the heart of the problem. Trying to fool him won’t work, and any plans Kaito makes aren’t likely to last past the first time he talks to him. It’s fine--Kaito hadn’t exactly planned out how to approach Maki or Shuichi, after all--but it makes him feel a little nervous.

Kaito made it into the basic training at least half on his ability to get along with pretty much anyone who wandered in front of him and then he’d been trained in how make sure he could be friends with  _ anyone _ if he needed to.

He hadn’t mentioned that part of his training to anyone but Shuichi, and Kaito was pretty sure Shuichi hadn’t understood what he’d been trying to say. That was fine. Good, even.

That’s why he rings Kokichi’s doorbell in the middle of the night, after he’s seen Maki and Shuichi safely to their rooms, and stands there with no idea what he’s going to say next. If he’s not going to plan it, then delaying is dumb.

Kokichi answers the door too fast for him to have been sleeping, opening it a crack and peering through before Kaito’s even rung the doorbell a third time. “Ehhh? What do you want? It’s too early for the next murder, you know.”

“Kokichi!” Kaito grins, then suddenly wonders if he should have planned this at least a little. “Can I come in?”

**Author's Note:**

> The pre-relationship is very pre, but I hope you enjoyed this treat! I was so excited to see you requesting this again--I've been meaning to to treat you for it for ages.


End file.
